I was waiting in a hospital campus for a meeting to begin. Seeing a patient being shifted, I turned to a senior nurse who was standing next to me and asked, does it appear that all good practices are followed while shifting this patent !
This nurse needed three surgeries in the last there years and mentioned to me that the comforts of the patient is not always at the heart of planning for shifting. We often pay attention to keep the monitors and equipment safe and secure during transfer of a patient. She recalled her experience.
She was awake from anesthesia while being shifted. She felt cold while being shifted and was not covered with a blanket. The trolly was terribly shaky and she felt pain acutely in her raw wounds. The trolly was pushed in a jerky way which aggravated her pain. When there was an elevation on the floor, she was pushed so fast that she felt that she would slip out of the trolly. She tried establishing an eye contact with someone handling the trolly, but none looked at her or talked to her, leave alone asking for her comfort. When she had to be shifted to her room, it was not well co-ordinated that her IV canula came out of her wrist. It took another half an hour before she was given an analgesic. She mentioned, ‘I wish I do not have to be in such a position again’.
I was well cared for when I was moved out of theatre after a surgery. The comfort of patient even during an emergency transfer is central to good health care practice. It needs even more attention.
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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